Key events
18th over: New Zealand 139-2 (Kerr 37, Devine 52) Charlie Dean back on. Kerr misses out on a drag down, just a single off it. SIX! Sophie Devine dances down the track and lofts high and handsome down the ground. That’s 50 for Devine off 31 balls. Eleven off the over.
17th over: New Zealand 128-2 (Kerr 35, Devine 43) Sophie Devine slots the first ball of the over down the ground for four…and follows up with a monster of a SIX over midwicket. Linsey Smith serves up a full toss and gets away with it, Devine finding the boundary rider but coming back for two. Three singles follow as Smith wrestles back a bit of control after the expensive start to the over. New Zealand eyeing up a score of over 150 now.
16th over: New Zealand 113-2 (Kerr 34, Devine 29) Lauren Bell back into the attack. Lissom limbs pumping away on the approach to the crease. A short ball is clubbed to the boundary by Kerr and the pace on the ball suites the Kiwi batters, twelve runs pocketed off the over.
15th over: New Zealand 100-2 (Kerr 25, Devine 26) Gibson back into the attack to replace Dean. Kerr gets low in her crease and ramps a full ball over Amy Jones and away fine for a couple. Gibson finds the blue line with a full yorker and narrowly avoids a wide by the barest of margins. Pace off and full, Kerr drives onto the off side twice but the sweepers do their job. A decent platform set for then home side but you feel they need to go gangbusters in the final five to set a competitive total.
14th over: New Zealand 92-2 (Kerr 18, Devine 26) Heather Knight continues and stitches together another tidy over. Five singles off it and New Zealand can’t find the fence.
13th over: New Zealand 87-2 (Kerr 15, Devine 24) Charlie Dean is worked into the leg side and the batters sprint back for two well judged runs. Shot! Devine opens the shoulders and drives down the ground for four. New Zealand looking to press on with wickets in hand.
12th over: New Zealand 77-2 (Kerr 15, Devine 14) Heather Knight has the ball in hand. ‘If you need a job doing…’. Six more to the total but only six, Kerr and Devine like to strike the ball and find the boundaries but they are being tied down by England at the moment.
11th over: New Zealand 71-2 (Kerr 13, Devine 10) Linsey Smith back into the attack and each ball is picked off for a single. Both sides sizing each other up, something’s gotta/gonna give.
10th over: New Zealand 65-2 (Kerr 10, Devine 7) Halfway stage in the innings, Devine drives for four through cover and Kerr is content to work into the gaps and pick off singles. Honours even after ten.
WICKET! Bezuidenhout c Heath b Gibson 34 (New Zealand 55-2)
Pace off from Gibson and Bezuidenhout plinks a simple catch to mid off. England have both openers back in the hutch.
9th over: New Zealand 57-2 (Kerr 8, Devine 1) Skipper Devine is the new batter with her side suffering a slight wobble after a decent start. She’s off the mark from her first ball.
8th over: New Zealand 54-1 (Bezuidenhout 34, Kerr 6) Six singles worked off Linsey Smith and the fifty up for New Zealand. I’m a bit behind and Coogan’s done sammink something’s happened!
7th over: New Zealand 48-1 (Bezuidenhout 30, Kerr 4) So, Sarah Glenn atones for the drop in the previous over by picking up the first wicket for England. Amelia Kerr is the new batter and she swats her first ball through square leg for four!
WICKET! Suzie Bates st A Jones b Glenn 14 (New Zealand 44-1)
First scalp for England! Suzie Bates trots down the crease to Sarah Glenn but swipes at fresh air whilst out of her ground. Amy Jones collects and whips off the bails.
6th over: New Zealand 40-0 (Bezuidenhout 29, Bates 11) Drop! Charlie Dean darts one in, Bezuidenhout chips to Glenn at mid off and the catch is spilled! Above head height but a simple enough chance. The batters scamper through. Let off for New Zealand, slowish start from England. End of the Powerplay, spoils to the home side, so far.
5th over: New Zealand 35-0 (Bezuidenhout 26, Bates 9) Linsey Smith given the nod by Knight but she struggles with her line and length. Bezuidenhout isn’t going to miss out and whips a full ball away for four before bunting through cover for another boundary. White Ferns Rising.
4th over: New Zealand 23-0 (Bezuidenhout 11, Bates 3) Charlie Dean into the attack and her first over is neat as you like – just a single swept off it by Bezuidenhout as Bates blocks out the rest.
3rd over: New Zealand 22-0 (Bezuidenhout 15, Bates 7) Shot! Suzie Bates skips down the pitch and scythes away behind point for four runs. Good intent and tidy footwork from the opener. Dots and boundaries the order of the day so far in Nelson.
2nd over: New Zealand 13-0 (Bezuidenhout 10, Bates 3) Danielle Gibson to share the new ball. Bezuidenhout faces three dots before whipping away for four more. A gentle ripple goes around the ground. Watching cricket in New Zealand really does look very civilised. Seven off the over, tidy start from the home side.
1st over: New Zealand 6-0 (Bezuidenhout 5, Bates 1) Lauren Bell starts with the new white ball for England. Suzie Bates gets off the mark first ball to bring Bernadine Bezuidenhout on to strike… and that’s the first four, a full ball timed away to the fence. A single makes it six off the first.
Apologies for the delays to the updates. *Factors*.
The players head out into bright sunshine in Nelson. First ball coming up…
A toss win for Sophie Devine in her 50th T20 international as captain and were batting first in Nelson. One change to the XI as Hannah Rowe comes in for Jess Kerr. Follow play LIVE and free in NZ on TVNZ 1 and TVNZ+ 📺 or @senz_radio 📻 #NZvENG pic.twitter.com/MGVn22vkFJ
— WHITE FERNS (@WHITE_FERNS) March 23, 2024
New Zealand win the toss and will bat!
James Wallace
Hello and welcome to the third T20 international between New Zealand and England from the Saxton Oval in picturesque Nelson.
Heather Knight’s side lead the five match series by two to diddly after securing 15 and 27 run wins in the first couple of matches, they’ll take the series with another win here today.
White Ferns captain Sophie Devine’s spoke really well before the series in an honest conversation with ESPNcricinfo’s Powerplay podcast about where women’s cricket in New Zealand is at after a mixed bag couple of years for the national side and the ever present juggle of franchise versus international opportunities and scheduling.
“It’s certainly a selling point when I talk to female athletes coming through… Cricket is such an attractive option as a career because we don’t necessarily have big numbers of it in New Zealand. There’s a very big picture that’s going on behind the scenes, but there’s got to be, I guess, a bit of realism and a bit of perspective that it’s going to take time. As long as we can keep chipping away at the likes of the Australia or England, I think we can certainly be out there with the best.”
Her side need to chip away today and get on the board with a win to keep the series alive.
Join us from 12am GMT/1pm local time for the action and a tiddly before that for the teams and toss. I’ll be right here with a vat of midnight oil to ignite and maybe even something stronger to slurp. As ever, drop us a line if you are tuning in, I can’t sail this thing by myself. Well I can but you knowwhaohforget it.
